Why Should Graduates Choose Defence?

Having been a graduate myself at one stage I’m aware that the tail end of your degree can be a scary time of your life. There is a lot of uncertainty around what to do next and where is the right place to start building your career. In the many, ever changing industries that surround a graduate, it can sometimes be hard to work out which one would be the right choice to enhance a long and successful career. Defence has continuously provided graduates with opportunities through graduate programmes etc but why might now be a really good time to start your career in defence?

Here are a few reasons:

Defence is investing

Right now is an extremely exciting time for defence. There has recently been a lot of money dedicated to the industry and multiple large projects on the horizon including:

Future Frigates (SEA5000) worth $35 billion.

Future Submarines (SEA1000) worth $50 billion on acquisition alone.

Future fighting vehicles (LAND400) worth $15-20 billion.

Future Offshore Patrol Vessels (SEA1180) worth $4 billion.

To give you an idea: the Australian Government have announced that $195 billion of spending over the next 10 years will be dedicated to defence. These projects are not only worth a huge amount of money but also have strong longevity attached for a fruitful career and it is said that the Captain of the last submarine built is yet to even be born! All of this growth within the industry is expected to produce over 2,000 jobs for engineers within Australia.

The industry is growing!

There is a lot of talk within the Defence Sector around how we will be able to accommodate the high volumes of work to come. One of the key answers to this forthcoming problem will certainly be around training graduates up. There are already many companies that are creating strong graduate schemes in 2018 to get the ball rolling. Some perks around attaining a graduate programme in defence include:

The work is safety critical. This means you will be working in an environment that is far more rigorous than others. You’ll be starting at the top.

Opportunity to travel. Many defence organisations originate from overseas and are always interested in sending their graduates overseas for training. Mainly in Europe.

Training. Defence are very interested in training their graduates in line with preparing for the future.

The work is interesting

Quite simply, the work is interesting. When I tell people that I work in an industry that has engineers working on ships, tanks, fighter jets etc it is always received well and I am just a step away from it all. Defence is not only exciting for the platforms, but the industry is also ever changing and there is continuous excitement around upcoming projects and speculation on which company will win the work. It definitely makes my role in recruitment more exciting and I’m sure it does as an engineer too. There is also an element of pride around producing the platforms that will ultimately help protect Australia.

Defence has historically not had a strong target on key modern focuses such as gender diversity. But this is something that the industry is fixated on changing moving forward. There are ‘not-for-profit’ organisations including Kinexus’ The Future Through Collaboration that run female mentoring programmes to encourage a more equal workforce. Furthermore, primes such as BAE Systems are set to appoint their very first female CEO as well as other large organisations in the industry working hard to have their companies 50:50 male to female. So female graduates would be fantastically placed to enter the defence market.

Obviously, whatever industry a graduate chooses will have benefits and sometimes it might just come down to what interests an individual most. So, when taking the crucial step into starting your career, I would advise you to not overlook the Defence Sector.

Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions or would like to discuss your options.